The Browser Company, the company behind the web browser Arc, today introduced a fun new tool called Boosts. It lets you customize a website with new colors and fonts. But the best feature of this tool is that you can “Zap” (read: remove) any element from the website like the sidebar or trending topics box.
Boost was originally launched in July last year. The feature, introduced by Chrome co-creators Darin Fischer and Victoria Kurst, was more focused on developers. At the time, the tool focused on allowing developers to quickly put together a browser extension using JavaScript. The new version of Boosts is end-user friendly, with a focus on customizing webpages or, as the browser company calls it, “editing the Internet.”
If you have Arch installed, tap the plus sign in the bottom bar and select “Create new Boost”. Boost Toolbar lets you change background and font colors with advanced controls for brightness, contrast and basic saturation. You can also change the font type to give a new look to the website.
Image Credits: screenshot by techcrunch
Once you’ve built Boost, you’ll see a paintbrush icon in the URL bar that lets you quickly enable or disable it.
The best thing about Boosts 2.0 is the Zap tool that lets you delete elements. For example, I removed the shorts section on YouTube because I didn’t want to watch vertical videos on my system. Also, I removed Twitter’s user suggestion box as I have found it mostly useless.
Chrome on the left and Arc on the right Image Credits: screenshot by techcrunch
Ark’s development team has made it possible to share your boosts with other users as well. The browser has introduced Boost Gallery which lets you view some edited web pages created by other users. You can click on “Get Boost” on any of these designs and apply on the website.
Image Credits: arch
The gallery has some great boosts to get you started. For example, it turns Instagram into a simple home feed without all the bells and whistles and it gives Slack a serious look with serif fonts.
If you’re a developer, you can still add JavaScript to your Boost. But in that case, it cannot be shared with other users due to security concerns.
The idea of customizing a website is exciting — especially when you can easily remove content you don’t like. Earlier this week, Chrome revamped its customization tools to apply different themes and colors to the browser. However, Arch’s customization is at the website level rather than the browser level.
In 2020, The Browser Company raised $5 million in funding from various investors such as LinkedIn’s Jeff Weiner, Medium’s Eve Williams, and Figma’s Dylan Fields. Their Arc browser is still in invite-only mode. Last month, the company launched an iPhone companion app for Arc that makes it easy for you to save individual pages in different workspaces and access them later from the desktop.
